Heading into next Thursday’s NBA Draft (7:00pm on TSN), there may be no scarier name for the Toronto Raptors than Andre Drummond, and he might be one that they unexpectedly have to contend with.*

A lot would have to happen for the Raptors to be facing the possibility of Drummond at the eighth selection. First is that Damian Lillard and Dion Waiters would have had to have gone in the top seven, most likely to Sacramento, Portland or Golden State. As recently as three weeks ago such a scenario would have been laughable, as Lillard and Waiters were both considered borderline lottery picks while Drummond was in the running for second overall. However, workouts and interviews can change things quickly, and while it would still take an unexpected turn of events for Lillard and Waiters go top-seven and Drummond to slip, it’s not nearly as hard to conceive of as it was back in May.

Which routes us back around to Drummond and Toronto meeting head on. In his one year at UConn, Drummond nearly redefined inconsistency by being alternately dominant and invisible, often within the same game. He is a jaw-dropping physical specimen, in the athletic mold of Dwight Howard or Amar’e Stoudemire, he measures out at 7-feet, 279 lbs. and possesses a staggering 7-foot-5 wingspan. However, he lacks the drive on the court that guys need to be great, or at least to max out their raw natural talents, and that already sounds like too many players on Toronto’s roster.*

It will take years for the eighteen-year-old Drummond to develop the arsenal of moves, both offensively and defensively, he’ll need to be great, and Toronto would have to be certain that he’d would commit to such a regimen before they’d feel secure in taking him in the draft. If you believe in him and he pans out you could have the next Andrew Bynum. If you believe in him and he doesn’t pan out then you have the next Hasheem Thabeet. Eventually one team is going to have to take that chance next week.

Complicating matters for the Raptors is the 2011 NBA Draft, the one where they selected their center of the future, Jonas Valanciunas. He is another athletic specimen, but unlike Drummond, Valanciunas is all motor all of the time. He doesn’t have the raw size that Drummond has, but he does a lot more with his athleticism and length than Drummond does. In fact, the very presence of Valanciunas should make passing on Drummond a no-brainer, especially for a team like the Raptors that has plenty of holes elsewhere on the roster that they need to address before October.*

The problem is that once you get past Davis, Thomas Robinson, Bradley Beal, Barnes, Kidd-Gilchrist, Lillard, Waiters and Drummond, the upside drop-off is staggering. Yes, there is a very good chance that Drummond never pans out, but would you rather miss on a guy like Drummond, or hit on a guy like Austin Rivers or Jeremy Lamb?*

Remember, every year tons of players that are guaranteed to produce are passed on because teams know that when they reach their ceiling they are going to be no better than role players in the NBA. Role players are readily available in free agency and in trades. That’s why teams tend to swing for the fences with guys like Drummond in the draft, because while there is a greater chance that you swing and miss in such a scenario, if you connect you alter the future of your franchise overnight.*

Plus, if you miss at least you missed trying to reinvent the future of your franchise, rather than working to solidify your backup shooting guard spot for the next few years.

So what would the Raptors do? If the choice is to either take Drummond or Rivers/Lamb, I can’t imagine that they’d pass on taking Drummond. Bryan Colangelo and Ed Stefanski have spoken often during this draft process that if a prospect falls to them, even if he appears to create redundancy, they’ll take him if he’s the best player available.*

All this "he's going to be a stud talk", no one knows that. The same comments were said about Greg Oden and Hasheem Thabeet.

Big men generally take long to develop and whether they're kept or not, Toronto already has Ed Davis,Jonas Valancunias to add to Amir Johnson,Andrea Bargnani and which ever FA they sign. Adding Drummond would mean you'll have to wait for him along with another rookie in Valancunias to hopefully become good core players.

All this "he's going to be a stud talk", no one knows that. The same comments were said about Greg Oden and Hasheem Thabeet.

Big men generally take long to develop and whether they're kept or not, Toronto already has Ed Davis,Jonas Valancunias to add to Amir Johnson,Andrea Bargnani and which ever FA they sign. Adding Drummond would mean you'll have to wait for him along with another rookie in Valancunias to hopefully become good core players.

Take Lillard,Waiters or trade down adding a starter and late teens pick,then draft Marshall or Rivers.

are you that bankiz guy?

even if the worse case scenario is deandre jordan, you take him. based off of position and need, he's value would far exceed his draft position.

the best thing about big bodied projects is that there is always someone else that believes that they can teach and transform them, so they retain value. with a guard, they're out of the league with no value after two-three seasons.

Go forward with Jonas, Drummond, Amir, Ed as your front court, use Bargnani to get some assets on the wing, blow some cap space on a young PG, or get that PG through the Bargs trade and blow some cap space on Batum on the wing.

A Drummond-Jonas frontcourt could be defensively unbeatable, and you take a shot on that. Even if it means a couple years of hurting in the meantime.

Go forward with Jonas, Drummond, Amir, Ed as your front court, use Bargnani to get some assets on the wing, blow some cap space on a young PG, or get that PG through the Bargs trade and blow some cap space on Batum on the wing.

A Drummond-Jonas frontcourt could be defensively unbeatable, and you take a shot on that. Even if it means a couple years of hurting in the meantime.

I agree. I don't like Drummond at all but you can't pass on that talent if he goes that far.

even if the worse case scenario is deandre jordan, you take him. based off of position and need, he's value would far exceed his draft position.

the best thing about big bodied projects is that there is always someone else that believes that they can teach and transform them, so they retain value. with a guard, they're out of the league with no value after two-three seasons.

That's getting old man!

We already have a rookie C prospect,you don't need to take Drummond and keep him.

Yeah there's always someone who believes they can turn someone into someone else...They're usually the same ones who fall victim to their own beliefs and regret their whole thought process. For a couple seasons, Detroit kept saying they see Rodney Stuckey turning into a Dwayne Wade type of player,they even financial committed to him based off that..yeah,how's that turning out?

Its no coincidence after workouts and everything,that's he's slid from being projected #2 overall to #8 and possibly even later. I think he'll get select before Toronto picks anyway. I think Portland will move on from the Oden experiment and draft him,then try to sign a PG rather than draft Lillard.

You definitely take Drummond at #8 if he's there. Then, as mentioned, explore trade possibilities that involve either Drummond or Bargnani. There will be a lot of interest for either player, such as Atlanta, LA Lakers, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Houston, Orlando, etc.

Even if we get Drummond we still have massive holes in the roster. PG,SG,SF all need to be addressed.

Indeed. One would hope that players like Jose, Bargnani, possibly Amir could be moved to bring in more picks and young players at those positions, and you can hope that JJ and DD improve. Bayless could be a viable option as well, though I don't personally think so. And there is all that cap space - could be used to sign young-ish players to big contracts to pry them away from their teams in RFA (like Lin or Dragic for example) - or could be used to absorb a bad contract in a deal at the cost of a draft pick.

Plus, there's the few years of hurting while those two bigs approach their potential - two or three more high lottery picks might fix those issues in the backcourt.

We already have a rookie C prospect,you don't need to take Drummond and keep him.

Yeah there's always someone who believes they can turn someone into someone else...They're usually the same ones who fall victim to their own beliefs and regret their whole thought process. For a couple seasons, Detroit kept saying they see Rodney Stuckey turning into a Dwayne Wade type of player,they even financial committed to him based off that..yeah,how's that turning out?

Its no coincidence after workouts and everything,that's he's slid from being projected #2 overall to #8 and possibly even later. I think he'll get select before Toronto picks anyway. I think Portland will move on from the Oden experiment and draft him,then try to sign a PG rather than draft Lillard.

i don't see your point. stuckey's contract aside, he's a good player. keeping on the pistons theme, if austin daye doesn't step his game up this season, it's very likely he'll find himself without an NBA roster spot or any value across the league.

looking at someone like kwame brown, how long did he retain value throughout the league even though he was a notorious bust. even as a role player, his value exceeded his skill level because of that potential factor.

dummond just gives you a longer lifespan to correct your mistake if he doesn't work-out.

dummond's a project that has possible motivational/love of the game issues. everyone knows that going into the draft, and if he falls, it's because of those reasons. there's a lot of general managers that are facing a lot of pressure to improve their rosters, a pick like dummond could come with a lot of scrutiny and possibly the loss of their job.

If Drummond somehow falls to us; we have to definitely take him. His size and potential is insane. He could very well be the second best player in the draft down the road if his potential materializes or he could either be like thatbeet. it's a gamble worth taking especially given were selecting at 8th. We have to take the best player available irrespective of position. I think he will be selected at 6 or 7 at the very latest though (wish we won that cointoss with the warriors or lost the final game to jersey). If we have him and val its likely one of them will pan out and Id like to see Bargnani playing more at the 4. I'm hoping he falls to us. We could package Amir or Ed Davis for another asset.